” ‘1 Thessalonians 5:24: “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.’

We mustn’t confuse success with faithfulness. There is nothing wrong with being successful, but it doesn’t mean you’ve been faithful. Or maybe we simply need to redefine or qualify what success is. Mother Teresa of Calcutta was once asked, ‘How do you measure the success of your work?‘ She looked puzzled for a moment and then replied, ‘I don’t remember that the Lord ever spoke of success. He spoke only of faithfulness in love. This is the only success that really counts.’Today’s short verse says three things: God calls us. He’s faithful. He’ll do it. If we respond to his call, he will be faithful, and he’ll accomplish what he wants. That’s what Mother Theresa is getting at when she rejects success for “faithfulness in love.”Are we faithful in what God has entrusted us with – in terms of our talents, our finances, our relationships, our ambitions? Are our ptiorites aligned with his? Whether we’re involved in business, politics, education, or the arts, are we blindly pursuing personal glory and success, or seeking to be Christs ambassador where he has placed us?Oswald Chambers writes, ‘We are not called to be successful in accordance with ordinary standards, but in accordance with a ear of wheat falling into the ground and dying, becoming in that way what it never could be if it were to abide alone.’The nature of faithfulness in love is that it is sacrificial. Chris laid down his life for us. In turn what will that look like for you this week?”

As promised… a blog post dedicated to my exam results 😉 Before I get into it, I have a few stories to tell you about this morning.

So I woke up at 8.30… waiting and wondering when it would arrive. The door rang and my mum answered to a Jehovah’s Witness. Not my exam results. I discovered this after I belted down the stairs “Is it my results? is it?!” No Lisa… bit embarrassing. Then Rachael and her mum waltzed into my home with a big letter… it was them. I didn’t realize they’d still go to her house. Maria, my mum, Rachael and I sat in the living room but I wouldn’t open it with them all there so I opened them with Rachael and these are my results.

I am SO SO happy with them! Yes… I am asking the same question as you.. how in the world did I get a B in English. 1. I failed the prelim. 2. I’ve been complaining about how bad I am at it for the WHOLE year. It appears that I’m not at bad as I thought but there may have been some lovely old generous ladies marking my exam which is also extremely beneficial on my part. As you know, I would have literally cried an ocean of tears if I didn’t get an A in German so I am SO over the moon with that! Also, I am so happy with Art…. I spent a lot of lunch times and week days after school working on my projects and making sure that the teacher and myself were happy with them so I am so glad that my work paid of! Also.. I was actually really surprised because for the theory (i.e memorizing essays and writing about painting and designs) I memorized most of it on the morning of the exam because one of the Art teachers had told me to change my essay! But I did not change it.. I just kept it to what I knew and it got me an A so it couldn’t have been wrong haha! ahhh I am so glad 🙂

So, as you probably know, we can change/add or drop subjects if we want so I’ve had a few brain waves. Right now, for 6th year, my timetable looks a bit like this: Higher Modern Studies, Higher Music, N5/In.2 Maths and hopefully Advanced Higher German (if the head of languages can convince Edinburgh college to let me do it open learning because we don’t have the supplies). So I have been thinking that I might drop Maths and take Higher English instead… and swap Higher Modern Studies for Higher Art. What are your thoughts? I was actually really sad about not being able to take Art and I’m clearly better at Art than Modern Studies so it makes sense, right? Plus, I’ve tried Maths again and its just really not how my brain is wired. So, I only dropped English because I failed the prelim and thought I was REALLY bad at it.. so yea, those are my thoughts.

Thank you all for your prayers! And I hope that everyone got the results that they wanted and better! And if not, there is always next year!! 🙂 Thank you Jesus! 🙂

The title literally says it all. Since the end of April I have been having exams. I did have a two week break in between but I am finishing off my last exams as I write this. Yesterday, was RMPS (Religious, Moral and Philosophcal Studies) I always think that the full title sounds so posh! I’m really not sure how it went. Apart from German, it was my other Higher so it wasn’t easy. I think I over reacted of how hard I thought it was in the exam. I panicked because the questions were worded strangely. For example, the Scientific Method was called the Scientific enquiry in the exam or Historic Creationists were called Literalists in the exam. They were hard on us with the ten markers as well.. they always do that! But I just hope I get at least a C. I did want a B but I think that depended on the type of questions. The problem is, I haven’t heard back from Travel and Tourism yet so if I did get an offer it would be conditional. That means that I need a certain grade in my Higher exams to be accepted. That’s why I was panicking so much because if I didn’t get at least a C then there is no chance of me going to College this year which really sucks. I’m not sure if I wrote on here but I did get accepted for Advanced Higher German, woohoo! The website says that they take up to 6 weeks to reply and its almost been 7 weeks so I am hoping they will get back to me any day now. I really want to go!

So my last exam is on Friday and thats Art. I know what your thinking, ah Art that should be easy, just paint a picture. 1. we no longer ‘just paint pictures’ we design extravagant neck pieces and put together a folio of art using different techniques, paints, pencil, samples and 2. we have already done that. Its the theory on Friday. I am currently memorizing two essays for it and as long as I am confident with those then I won’t be nervous. Please pray that I remember it all! 🙂

Now to the more exciting events of my life. After my Art exam, I still have 1 week of study leave so I am going on a History trip to Orkney with my school as a senior helper. There are about 7 senior helpers this year. Normally its about 2. I am so excited though! We just had a final meeting today and basically, we are going to visit loads of cultural places in Orkney and just look after the kids a bit. There are 4 other girls from my year that are going too so it should be a lot of fun. I went when I was in third year and I thought that it was something adventurous and I really enjoyed it so I am going back. If I don’t have wifi while I’m there I will see if I get 3G to keep you up to date on my travels (as always). I love to write about what I am doing each day.

So thats quit a lot! If I’m being honest, I don’t know what a lot of these places are but I am excited to explore! I have been to some of them before but the majority of them will be new to me. I actually especially loved to Fossil Museum when we went in third year. It was so colorful and pretty so I’m glad we are going back 🙂

I hope you are all having fab weeks!

p.s If you have any music cover requests, just comment and I will check them out 🙂

After I finished my blog post yesterday, I told you I was going to church. So, at New Hope last night, the sermon was on planet earth. It was about our assignment on planet earth. That planet earth isn’t our home but it is our assignment from God. Heaven is our home.

We need to actually remember that we have an assignment on earth because other wise we will value worldly things more and forget what we are actually here to do.

Mathew 4:19‘And he said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”‘

Mark 1:17‘And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”‘

Why did Jesus say this? I hear you ask. Its because, He is a fisher of man. If we spend time with God then we will also become and this and share the Gospel with the nations. The thing is, everybody is looking for the truth but they don’t know where to find it. They are tired of all the lies. But, people aren’t interested in our religious beliefs. They are just interested about their life on this earth. If we are to be a Christ centered Church then we will be a church that knows our assignment. Heaven is going to be amazing right? we all know that 🙂 we will be mesmerized bu Gods work, we won’t see a non Christian. On this earth we can take people with us there, to heaven, to paradise.

1. A Christ Centered Church connects everything it does to a soul. We are becoming to comfortable on the earth and forgetting why we are here…

John 4:35‘Do not say, ‘There are yet four months , and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.’

What matters most of all is the souls that are being saved. Everything we do is for the sake of souls. God values Christians and non-Christians the same. We are not just here as a gathering of Christians, we are here also to be Gods co-workers. In Heaven, God will ask us, “How many children did you bring home with you?” We won’t have another chance at this life again. Now is the time.

2. A Christ Centered Church never forgets her assignment. You might think God can’t use you. You might think you too young, too old, not good enough, not wise enough. That doesn’t matter. God uses everyone . We have one life to give.

John 20:21‘So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’We are sent people. God has a great plan and purpose for you. He wants us to make the most of every opportunity. To bring them home.

Why are we here? that is the question… We are here to love others. We made the decision to obey God and follow him.

3. A Christ Centered Church chooses to love the people in its community and its calling to reach them. No matter how bad people may seem or how unlovable they may seem, we must love anyway. Harder than it sounds.. but the greatest love is the love of choice.

For example, if you run simply because you love loving, you will run forever. When you love simply for loving people, you will love them forever.

Mathew 20:34‘Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.’

We are here to love. We are here to build people because its people God died for not for things such as our reputations. Jesus was moved by compassion. Miracles are usually prefaced by compassion.

*look at 1 Corinthians 13.*

Love never ever gives up. The love of Christ transforms us. Love doesn’t force itself on itself. We must trust God always. The love of God transforms us to become like Jesus. ‘Its not the magnitude of our actions but the love that we put into them that matters.’If we love, even the small things give us joy.

4. A Christ Centered Church chooses that about everything else. 2 Corinthians 5:14‘For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded thins, that one died for all, therefore all died;’

If the love of God controls us then we won’t be here for us. We will understand that it is our assignment. We always have to know what our assignment is. We have to choose to love the people who God puts around us,. We have to choose to be controlled by Gods love. The Devil will try to tell us lies but we won’t listen to them! In Heaven we will never see a non Christian again, now is our chance to bring others with us, home, to paradise.

At the moment, I am reading a book about Jesus Freaks. Yup, it sounds strange if you have never heard this concept before. This book talks about Jesus Freaks in the bible, Jesus Freaks in our modern day lives, how we can be Jesus Freaks. I haven’t finished it yet because I was trying to read slow so I wouldn’t finish it before my next book came. My next book has arrived and I’ll finish the last two or three chapters as soon as possible. In this book, the stories that I am so drawn into are the Jesus Freaks of our modern day lives. Here, in the UK you don’t really hear much about persecution around this area or nothing compared to some other countries. Christianity is the world religion but, as we learned in r.e, the numbers are going down, decreasing.

When I read the stories of people being persecuted for their faith, my eyes are glued to the page. I guess, it might be because they inspire me. I wonder how they can still love their enemies that are burning them alive, torturing them. It is a challenge but I hope one day I will remember their stories and how strong and in love they are with Jesus that that would encourage me not to be frightened. I mean, I wonder what its like.

So during reading, I took quit a lot of notes on quotes that stood out to me personally. Maybe some will encourage you, inspire you or maybe you just want to read them 🙂 (There are pages and pages so I won’t write them all haha!)

“Pray as if everything depended on your prayer.”

“You need to talk to your Father in your own words, for no one else can convey what you are feeling or going through.”

“Find a quit place to talk with God like with a friend.”

“Faith is a lot like hiking on a trail at night, guided only by the beam of a flash light.”

“Don’t be afraid if he shows you just one step at a time. You have just enough light for you next step. That’s Gods way of stretching your faith.”

“Singing of Gods awesome power is the highest form of spiritual warfare.”

“Some day you may have to rely on the scriptures stored in your heart rather than on the printed copy of the bible on your bookshelf.”

“Loving your enemies is one of the surest signs of a Jesus freak.”

“The roots you water today will grow over time.”

“How can you love someone who is torturing you? By looking at man not as they are, but as they will be.”

“God provides super natural courage when you need it the most.”

So that was still quit a lot and that wasn’t all of it and I’m not finished the book. I love it!

No, this isn’t my first day of primary school.No, this wasn’t my first day of high school or college.Today was my first day of 5th year. My first day of having only 5 subjects. My first day of having 6th years mixed with 5th years and my first day of having surprisingly quit pupils in my classes. Seriously… you would think when people get to the age of 15 nearly 16 they would at least not talk when the teacher is talking.. but no! 4th year was horrendous for the amount of immaturity in the classes. My brother said to me “Lisa, by 5th year all the annoying ones leave.” He was right in some sense but actually quit a few stayed but they are not in my class so I am very happy 😀 Now there are more concentrated students rather than loud ones so they basically just sit in a corner out numbered by the amount of people working. Don’t get me wrong! I absolutely love a good laugh but I also want to do well and not waste my school years. Especially this year.

Anyway, today was SO good! First I ran into my registration class anxious to receive my timetable from my registration teacher (one of the nicest teachers ever!:D). When I was handed it I was so so relieved. I got teachers that I like. First, I had English with a teacher that I had never had before but everyone told me she is nice. Now, her make up does create great amusement for me because it is quit funny but you get used to it. Then, I had R.M.P.S (Religious, Moral and philosophical Studies) with a teacher that I also had the past couple of years. Since Psychology doesn’t start until August I had a double free period between break and lunch where I was saddened to be told that going to Asda wasn’t allowed and that we had to stay in school 😦 But… it turned out good! The librarian chatted with me and saw that I was reading German magazines. She found out my parents are German and I speak German. Since she studied German too I now think she has great respect for me haha! Her words were “Girls, you are allowed to come in any time you want” (I was with my friend) So, I translated some German, read my book and filled in a form for tomorrows Open Learning College induction.

For the last two periods I had German and Art. In German two people are doing crash Higher. One speaks Dutch so some of it she understands and the other is someone who I actually know from ages ago. He went to my church when we were younger. His mum comes from Austria so he too has some background of German. I can tell you.. they are learning fast!:) Oh and I got the German teacher I wanted too 🙂 I’ve had him since 3rd year. Lastly, I had Art. My Art teacher is a bit odd but I think he’s the best out of the 3.

Overall, I had a wonderful first day of 5th year:)Tomorrow is time for a day of a 4 hour Psychology induction. I am excited!